So Red the Rose is a novel written in 1934 by Stark Young who was born in Como, Mississippi. Young was the grandson of Hugh McGehee, the brother of Judge Edward McGehee of Bowling Green Plantation near Woodville, Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Though the book is a fictional account of the wealthy slaveholding families in the Natchez region, it closely mimics the McGehees of Wilkinson County and the events surrounding the U.S. Third Colored Cavalry’s burning of Bowling Green Plantation during the Civil War. In 1935, the book was adapted into a full-length movie also titled So Red The Rose.
Stark Young uses the names of real places, real events, and real people in the novel. One of the characters is William Veal, who is depicted as a loyal mulatto family “servant,” mentioned 28 times in the book and is prominently featured in the film. In ongoing reviews of the book, and the film, the name William Veal has been continually battered about in describing the relationship between enslaved people and their slaveowners.
The William Veal in So Red the Rose is a fictional character, a house servant who lived on the fictional Montrose Plantation with the McGehee family. The creation of William Veal perpetuates false narratives for the “old style” South.
i) That slaveowners were kind and benevolent to the people they enslaved, and these slaves in turn really loved them, especially the house servants.
ii) That the field slaves were ungrateful for the life provided them by their owners and ran away to join the Union Army where they were mistreated.
Why do I care about So Red The Rose?
There was a real person in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, named William Veal. A real person with a wife, children, extended family, and a community of descendants. What we know about him has been created by the descendants of his slaveowners. Not much has been told or written about William Veal by his descendants. What is his story?
Next: The Real William Veal
